Mail receiving and delivering apparatus.



INVENTOR Patent-d May 28, 1918.

' ATTORNEY E. T. HILBRANDS.

MAIL nEcEwlNG AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

l KNAU APPLICATION FLED OCT.20|19II.

WITNESSES neen '.r. Humanities, or GREENE, Iowa.

MAIL REGEIVING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

iiemeoa.

Spe'oication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28,19/158.-

Applicatin filed' October 20, 1917. Serial No. 197,669.

To allv whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, Econ T. HLBRANDs', a citizen of the United States, residing at Greene, in the county of Butler and State of l Iowa, have invented: certain new andi useful Improvements in Mail Receiving andy De; livering Apparatus, of whicli* the-following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail receiving and delivering apparatus, andE more particularly to an improved device for use in`- connection with fast moving trains whereby mail may be received on thev train or deliveredf'therefrom Without the necessity of vdiminisliing the s eed of the train andina mannerl that willv avoid the least'lpossible danger to the person or' persons operating the device.

@ne ofthe principal objects of the'invention is to provide an' auxiliary mail carrier mounted to travely at the side of the railway track whereby the carrier may travel with the mail carof the moving train when' the latter is passing a mail transferringt point for permittin themailsa'cks to lie'r'emoved from the carrier, taken intotliemail car; or transferring mail frolu the mail" ear to the carrier.

A further obj eetof the inventionis-to provideva carrier! adapted to'travell over a' relatively long trestie at the side off'the railway track, each end of the trest/lebein'ifprovided withA means for automatically re' easing the mail carrier when thetrain; approaches-the device for permitting" the' carrier-to travel with tile train for accomplishing the delivering and receiving-:ofi the mailisaclisi Al further object of the inventiony is the provision of a device ofthis character that will be so constructed asto prevent any shock occurring when the mail carengages the carrier to travel with the latter for transferringtlie mail sacks.l

A* further object of this invention is the provision of a mailreceivinganddelivering apparatus which consists of' comparatively few parts, andis simple inr construction and durable andl well adapted to withstand! the rough usagetb which devices of this'character are ordinarily subjected.

For a' full description of the invention and the-.advantages aHdmerits thereof, ref# e'rence iS to be hadlto the following description and -thefacconipanying drawings, where` in' is illustratedthe preferred form of my invention, in whieh:-

Figure l is a side elevation, partly broken away andshowing a portion of a mail car.

Fig. 2' isv a horizontal section through a portionof a device.

Fig. 3 isla; fragmentary end elevation'.

Fig; 4f is a fragmentary plan, of the mail car and Part: of the mechanism' associated therewith.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary Section onftheline 5--5` of Fig. 4'.

Referring'to the drawing vvlierein is illus` trated thefpreferred forni of my invention, in wliiolilik'e numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views, theend standards 1 and 2 are laterally spaced apartandf arranged' near the side of tli'e tracki Longitudinally spaced, for'a considerable distance from similar standards l and 2' are the standards 8l These pairs of standards should be spacedy apait fora distanceequalto the length of several blocks for ay purpose which will presently appear. A trestle or runway" 5 extends longitudinally between tile pairs of stendardsand eacliend of the runway is-inclined to provide lifts 6 the height and angle of which may bemade to suit the) conditions. TheI runway con sists of therailr 6' mounted'E upon ties 'F and the ends of the rails are fastened tb the standards and each lift 6- is reinforced by braces 8; The intermediate' portion" of the runway, as shown in Fig. 1I offthedravving, isldisposed ina comparativelyA low; plane so that'the top of the rails 6"a`re lelve'lfvvfith` the topl'of, the railway rails overwliichthe train travels. In* this manner grade crossings may cross the track and runwayat" any1 de# sired pointV since it may be necessary when the device is usedwith expresstrains to have the runway 5 severalfhundred feet long;

Mounted upon the runway is a truckor carrier'Q which includes the platform supported'bythestandards 10 upon which the carrierwlieels' 11' are mounted; 'Dhe truck isadapted to travelon the' runway and the platform is provided with upright" ends 12 the upper portions of wliichcarry Wheels 13 cngrageable with' a retaining rai1`14j disposed centrally above the runway'andlliav ing inollned'ends connected to the standard at the end of the runway. In this'y ntfanL neri thecarrier is assuredy of=` being heldfto the runway when traveling from one end to the other thereof.

The inner edge of the platform has attached thereto a rack bar 15 the ends of which are curved upwardly and the bottom surface of the rack bar is provided with teeth. The mail car indicated at A is provided on its interior with bearing brackets 16 which support a shaft 17 the end of which projects through the side of the car near the door thereof, and carries a gear 18 in line with and engageable with the rack bar 15. The shaft 17, on the interior of' the car, carries a pinion 19 in mesh with a gear 20 on a counter shaft 21 and this counter shaft has a heavy coil spring 22 mounted thereon, one end of which is fixed to the shaft while the outer end is fastened to one of the brackets 16. This construction is provided to absorb all shocks which would occur when the railroad car engaged the carrier.

Normally, the carrier is arranged at one of the inclined ends of the runway as indi cated by dotted lines in Fig. l, and is held in this position by a latch 23 pivotally mounted upon a cross rod 24 the ends of which are rotatably mounted on the standards 1 and 2. This latch is engageable with a latch dog 25 attached to the end of the truck for normally holding the end of the truck on the upper end of the lift 6 at one end of the runway. One end of the shaft or rod 24 carries a link 26, and this is connected with a flexible element 27 the end of which is joined to a lever 28 pivotally mounted on one of the railroad ties. This lever 28 is extended `beneath the adjacent railway rail and, as shown to advantage in Fig. 3, itsend is turned upwardly onthe inner side of the rail, and a shoe 29 is earried by its end which will lie in the same plane as the top of the rail 2. A coil spring 30 holds the shoe in elevated position under normal conditions.

A cross arm 31 is extended laterally between each pair of standards and the terminals of the cross arms are fixed to the standards for supporting it in the desired position. Projecting from each cross arm is a pair of heavy coil expansion springs 32 the ends of which carry plates 33 and these plates are adapted to engage abutments on the end of the truck or carrier when the carrier is in position at either end of the runway. Under these conditions the springs will be compressed and it will be obvious that the moment the carrier is released the springs will impart a thrust to the truck Jfor sending it forwardly on the runway.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The railway car A traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 approaches the device and the wheels of t e locomotive will engage one of the shoes 29 wardly on the member 28 and exerting a downward pull on the clement 27 which in turn will pull the link 26 for turning the rod 24. Turning of this rod will lift the latch 23 which will disengage the latch dog 25 on the carrier and as soon as this releasing operation has been accomplished the heavy coil springs will be released and will thrust the carrier forwardly along the runway as indicated by iull lines in Fig. 1. The mail car, still approachingr the carrier by virtue of its greater speed, comes into position for permitting` the gear 18 to engage the rack bar and the teeth ol the gear meshing with the rack bar will cause the coil tension spring 22 to operate for absorbing any shock that would otherwise occur. In this manner the truck travels with the mail car foraconsiderable distance and `at a point near the open door of the mail car whereby trans fer of the mail may be accomplished. When the carrier reaches the end of the runway it will be immediately lifted by the lift 6 and raised to the position shown in dotted lines whereupon the latch 23 will automatically catch and the springs 32 will be compressed for retaining the carrier in position for the next operation in the opposite direction. If the truck is to transfer mail or receive mail from the next train traveling in the same direction as the first train, the latch 23 may be manually released and the springs will thrust the carrier along the runway to the opposite end where it may be held in position Jfor the next o eration.

The inclined en s of the trestle will serve to diminish the speed of the truck as it nears the ends of the trestle or runway so that it will approach the springs and the locking latches at the proper rate of speed whereby injury to the truck or the other mechanism will be prevented.

From the foregoing it will be observed that a very simple and durable mail receiving and deliverlng apparatus has been provided the details of which embody the preerred form. I desire it to be understood, however, that slight changes in the minor details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

I claim:

1. A mail bag transferring apparatus mounted at the side of a railway track, a carrier mounted at the side of the railway, a runway upon which the said carrier travels, standards arranged at each end of the runway and supporting the ends of the latter, the said standards carrying a pair of expansion springs engageable with the end of the said carrier, a latch mounted on each pair of standards and engageable with the truck to maintain the carrier in osition against the action exerted by t Ye said springs, a shoe arranged in close puroxiinityto one of the said rails, means connecting the shoe with the said latches to release the latter for permitting the springs to act upon the said truck, and a retaining rail disposed above the said truck for preventing displacement thereof from the said runway.

2. A mail bag transferring apparatus comprising a runway having inclined ends, the runway being arranged adjacent the side of a railway track, upright supporting standards at the end of the said runway, compression springs carried by the uprights at each end of the said runway,a carrier mounted on the runway and normally held on either one of the said inclined portions whereby either one or the other of the said springs may be compressed to exert a pressure on the end of the carrier arranged at either end of the runway, means for releasing the carrier from the compression springs, and means for maintaining the carrier on the runway when the springs impart a forward thrust to the same, the said carrier being provided with a rack bar, and means carried by the railway car to engage the said rack bar for diminishing the shock of engaging the said carrier.

3. In combination with a railway car mounted on railway rails, shafting arranged within the car and carrying a gear disposed on the exterior of the car, a runway parallel with the said railway rails and including rails having their intermediate portions on the level with the said railway rails and their end portions inclined to 'form lifts at the ends of the runway, a carrier mounted on the said runway and including a platform level with the floor of the mail car when the said carrier is traveling over the intermediate portions of the runway, and a rack bar formed on the carrier and engageable with the said gear when the said carrier and mail car are moved into close proxiinity to each other.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature a2 Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

